Google unveils app development kit for Glass

The Glass Development Kit (GDK), released at a Glass hackathon, would allow developers to build apps or ‘Glassware’ that matches the feature set of Google’s own apps.

Google’s senior development advocate Timothy Jordan pointed that with the GDK kit, apps can run in offline mode and can get ‘real-time user response’ without having to ping the cloud and the apps can access the Glass hardware directly, The Verge reports.

The report said that the two biggest user-facing innovations that the GDK will allow are ‘live cards’ that will let Glassware, or apps for the device live to the left of the home screen and continually update as long as it’s running.

An immersive and focused experience would make the rest of the timeline ‘fade away’ while one is in an immersive app, and the swiping gestures instead control specific features within the app itself.

The search giant has also announced five new Glassware apps built with the GDK, including Word Lens, an app that taps into the Glass camera and translates text, Spellista, first game built for Glass that uses gyroscope and accelerometer to track the user’s head movements and lets them spell out a word.

Other apps include workout app Strava, cooking and recipe app All The Cooks and GolfSight app.

Google has announced a ‘sneak peak’ of the GDK, which can let users to start finding bugs, building apps, and thinking about what else they need from it.

The hi-tech wearable computing gadget, currently tested by a team of Glass Explorers, is expected to make its public debut in sometime next year.